Mi Own
by MusicalfishieXD
Summary: Charlie taught Fred and George what it meant for someone to be beautiful. They ignore it, of course, until Fred spots little Hermione Granger, who can hold her own against him and his twin. George doesn't see it, but Fred thinks that Hermione is what Charlie meant by beautiful. AU, starts in Fred's 3rd year.
1. Prologue

Before we left for the Hogwarts Express our first year, Charlie cornered me and Georgie boy in our room.

"Now boys, I know you're only first years," Charlie started.

We shared a look, as all twins should, and George started: "Charlie, I never knew you-"

"-noticed us with all the-"

"-quidditch plans-"

"-you were making this year!" We finished in unison.

Charlie sighed, hand reflexively going towards his badges pinned to his grey shirt. He had two pinned there, the red and gold colors of Gryffiindor peering at us from the Prefect badge, but he was reaching toward the one he took far more pride in: Quidditch Captain. He looked at us again, pinning me and George with a serious look.

This time I started "But Charlie, we can't-"

"-be on the quidditch team this year!"

"I'm not trying to talk about quidditch. I'm trying to give you two dunderheads some advice." Poor Charlie seemed frustrated. He did that thing that he and Bill both do when they're frustrated, running both hands through his hair at the same time. Mum had gotten to us all two days ago, it was shorter than he liked it. For that matter, so was mine and George's. George's and mine? Oh well. Whoops, Charlie was trying to talk to us. He took a deep breath and started again. "I wanted to tell you two a few things. First: don't worry if you're not in Gryffindor." Georgie and I started and stared at each other with disgust before turning back to Charlie. He tended to give good advice, but how dare he insinuate that we weren't brave!

Charlie started to talk again before we could cut him off again. "Second: beware of McGonagall and Snape. They're both hardasses. McGonagall will always be fair, but she is strict and takes pride in producing lions. Snape just enjoys our suffering, and will be quick to take away house points. It's not worth it." George and I did not need to look at each other this time, I knew he was quirking his eyebrow and smirking at Charlie the same way I was. Charlie smirked back at us; after all, he had been the one to teach us that expression years ago. He had to know that that advice would be promptly ignored once we set foot in Hogwarts. Nobody was safe from Fred and George Weasley. "Last but definitely not least: always compliment the girl." George and I gagged. "I know, I know. But let me tell you now. It will happen at some point. But first, remember that any girl can be pretty. Pretty is what happens when a girl makes an effort to look good. But not any girl can be beautiful. That happens when the girl is _right_ , mum will try to tell you that beauty comes from within and all that nonsense, but it is when she is smiling at you and it takes your breath away. It is when you think about her all the time, it is when the brains, yes, you two could only be interested in girls as smart as you, come out to play and challenge you." With that, Charlie walked away.

Now, think what you might, but Charlie only gives advice when he knows it needs given. On many occasions, Charlie's advice has saved us from trouble, but mostly, we know to think about it because whenever we don't listen to him, we regret it. Mum says something about the Prewetts being seers, and we would normally think it bollocks, but Charlie says some weird stuff sometimes. But it is Charlie. Who knows?

George and I look at each other, before going and sitting on our beds for a few minutes, silently letting his advice sink in. We pick our heads up as we hear mum shouting downstairs, trying to get the munchkins ready, trying to make sure that we are gathering our stuff for Hogwarts. We grab our trunk together, dragging it down the stairs (quite loudly), laughing as we think about Charlie giving advice about girls. Eww.


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions

I didn't think about the advice Charlie gave me and George two years ago. He was gone, off to Romania to work with dragons! How cool was that?! Georgie and I thought that was the coolest thing that he could have possibly done, he beat out Bill who was a curse breaker. Although, last time we saw Bill he had a fang in his ear…

We got ourselves settled onto the Hogwarts Express with Lee, with plans to sleep the whole ride there. George and I, we had plans that first night back. We did have a record too break, after all. But the plan meant that we were going to be up all night, so we wanted to sleep while we could. I found a comfortable spot laid back on the bench with my feet propped up on George's lap. I knew they were safe there, because whilst I prefer to lay down, my twin has absolutely no problems falling asleep sitting up. I closed my eyes and let the rocking motion and the chaotic sounds of the train full of teenagers lull me to sleep.

 _Bangbangbang, bang, bang bang!_

I started to wake up before my lower half was thrown roughly to the floor. The upper half of me followed, jolting me awake and leaving me in a pile of limbs on the floor. George looked down at me, brown eyes apologetic. He did laugh at me though, his shoulders shaking with his chuckles as he reached down to pull me up. As we got halfway there, the door shuddered as somebody knocked on it, quite hard. George turned his head to look at the door, ignoring me for the shortest moment. We overbalanced, and I fell back to the ground with a groan. George fell as well, pulled rather abruptly by my loss of balance and ended up sprawled with his legs somehow pinning my chest while his torso fell on Lee. Rather than try to get up again, I decided to give up and just laid my head back on the surprisingly plush carpet and managed to wheeze out a "come in!" at the same time as George and Lee. The door opened to show a girl, an ickle firstie by the looks of her!

She looked at us all, cocking her head one way, then the next, her brown riotous hair _poof_ ing out around her face, her whiskey-colored eyes twinkling with laughter. Her brow creased and she pursed her lips, looking like she both wanted to laugh at us and scold us all at once. She reached out a hand to help George up, bracing herself to do so as he was quite a bit larger than her. She managed to heave the clumsy sod off me, and he sat down on the bench we had previously occupied. She laughed and then reached out to pull me up as well. I allowed her to pull me to my feet, then joined George, studying her.

"Look Forge! We have an icle firstie!" I nodded to him in agreement, excited to meet someone new. I knew that he was looking at me, so I decided to do the observing. That meant that I was watching watching as her face fell.

Uh oh. We had upset her somehow. What had we done? "Just because I'm a first year does not mean that you can call me names!" She really was upset. We didn't like making people upset, we liked making people laugh. Her eyes shone at that moment like she was about to start crying, and I swear that her hair, which was already the biggest I had ever seen, got even bigger.

I decided to cut in before George could say something. George and I knew that we pushed people's limits sometimes, but George was usually the one that decided to pull me back if I said something stupid or hurtful. We enjoy taking the mickey, but like I just said, we don't like hurting people. Unless they deserve it. Which this girl did not, at least not yet. "We don't mean to call you names, it's just what our older brothers always called first years. Our brother is a first year this year too!" George looked at me, his eyes widening and his left eyebrow quirking up just the slightest bit. He looked back at the girl, who hadn't introduced herself, and realized that she looked upset.

"Yeah, sit down and we'll tell you what we did!" George added inviting the girl to sit. He stood abruptly, towering over the tiny girl. Were we that small two years ago? I jumped up to join him, in front of the girl, but on either side so that she had to step back toward the door so that she could take us both in. I bowed theatrically, knowing that my other half was acting as my mirror. "Introducing-" he started.

"-the marvelous-" we straightened up to our full height.

"-most brilliant-" we gestured toward each other with a flourish, both hands extended toward the other, which meant that we whacked each other in the arms a few times. The compartment was far too small for this.

"-pranksters extraordinaire-" at this point, she was giggling, her eyes twinkling, and her hair settled slightly back down to where it was before.

"Weasley Twins! George-"

"-and Fred Weasley-"

"-at your service!" we bowed once more, before taking our seats. George, deciding to not forget our best friend, added "and that git over there is Lee, our partner in crime."

She clapped at our introduction, before taking the invitation to sit next to Lee, close to the door of the compartment. "Pleasure to meet you three. I'm Hermione Granger." She looked at our bright red hair, which had to be thoroughly rumpled due to both our naps and our tumble to the ground earlier. "You said you have a first-year brother?" We nodded twice in unison. "Does he have a rat?"

George wiped a pretend tear from his eye. "That he does! Silly little ickle Ronnie, we taught him a spell earlier to turn his rat yellow!"

"Yeah, but it's a fake, don't tell him." I winked, hoping she would laugh again. It worked, she did. She had a nice laugh. "So Ms. Hermione Granger, what house do you want to be in?"

She looked apprehensively at us, biting her lower lip and blushing. "Well, I think I might be in Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor sounds by far the best, I hope I get in!"

Lee chimed in, he takes far longer than we do to wake up. When George and I bet against each other, the punishment for losing is waking him up if he doesn't wake up in time for breakfast. "Gryffindor is the best. That's our house!"

"Really? What about the sorting? What happens?" She looked so worried, that I just had to take pity on her.

"Well, we told Ron that it would be a test. That it would be painful." I started, and Hermione's eyes got wider and she started to worry her lower lip with her teeth. I nudged George, hoping that he would get the hint and help me make her feel better.

"But it really isn't. There's a hat you see, and it decides where to put you." George added, thankfully getting the hint. The three of us leaned closer conspiratorially, Hermione leaning in to us after a second's hesitation.

"And don't worry, it takes your preferences into account when it picks for you." George and Lee looked at me, shocked. "It almost tried to put me into Ravenclaw or Slytherin, saying that I could fit equally into any of those three houses, but I knew Georgie and I needed to be in Gryffindor, and it let me go there. George's decision was shorter than mine, even the Sorting Hat knew not to separate us." While I whispered this to her, Lee looked at me in confusion, and George flushed, then paled at my words. His jaw dropped wide open and his eyes got wide. Oops. I hadn't meant to tell her that, nobody knew that except me and him, not even Lee. Well, I guess Lee knows now. I looked back at him, sure that I had just done something wrong, but not knowing why.

"Don't tell anyone that bit, nobody outside this compartment knows that." George added in a whisper, still staring at me. The color was starting to return to his face though.

Hermione looked at us, her cheeks flushed, and did an odd sort of motion. She held her hand up in front of her face, as if she was holding something, drew her thumb and forefinger across her mouth before twisting her wrist and then tossing her hand back over her shoulder. Having practiced being in unison our whole lives, I knew that George had cocked his head in confusion at the same time as me, while his left eyebrow twitched up and my right eyebrow did. Lee, while not as practiced as us, had still been our partner in crime for two years now and had a similar expression on his dark face.

"What in the-" he started, knowing that we would finish in our "twin-speak" as Ginny liked to call it.

"-name of Merlin-" I added next.

"-was that?" George finished, gesturing towards her with both hands, though she looked at us with confusion.

"What was what?" she looked at us with confusion, seemingly getting more settled into the compartment with us. She finally relaxed into her seat, choosing to lean more on the wall of the compartment than on the back of the bench so that she could look at all of us.

George took the lead, and tried to copy her gesture. He did it wrong, but I couldn't quite tell what he did that didn't make it work the same way it did for her. She giggled, then showed us slower. "It means zipping your lips," she exaggerated the zipping motion, "locking up the secret," she turned the key, "and throwing away the key so that nobody will ever find out the secret. Have you never seen that before?"

"Nope! Where are you from?" Lee cut in, moving to check on his small box in the corner. They heard a commotion from the hallway, loud laughter followed by a knock on their compartment's door. "Enter at your own risk!" chorused me and the other boys. The door opened, and another small one entered cautiously. This one was a boy firstie, and looked vaguely familiar.

"Oh Neville! I'm so sorry I got distracted! Fred, George, Lee, this is Neville, and he's looking for his toad. Have you seen one?" She sounded so distressed about forgetting, but still remembered to introduce us all, gesturing at each of us in turn when she said our names. She actually got it right with George and I, so we made a note of that. Not an easy feat. That was why he looked familiar, haven't seen Neville Longbottom in years! Poor boy. But alas, none of us had seen the toad. "Well it was nice to meet you lot, hope I join you in Gryffindor! If you find Trevor, that's the toad, grab him please!" And with that, Hermione Granger had gone off with Neville.

I looked at George, then the door and stared after her, even though she was gone and the door was closed. George turned on me and threw his arms out to the side, using his hands to talk just as much as he used his voice. It's a habit both of us have gesticulating wildly, especially when we get excited. George tends to do it when he is upset, he tries to loom over whoever he is mad at. "What, Freddie boy, was that! Spilling our secrets during a first conversation! With a firstie! What if she ends up in Slytherin Fred?!" I leaned back from the ire of my twin, surprised by the vehemence of his argument and that he seemed…angry with me.

I tried to communicate with George with a look, but he just continued to look at me expectantly. "Can I tell you later Georgie? Please?" I nodded twitched my eyes to Lee, knowing that only George would see. But Lee, understanding what I needed, stood up and made an excuse to leave, saying that he was going to go see the girls. Once he was gone and the door was closed, I turned back to my twin, my other half. He was still looking at me in frustrated confusion and worry. I was so not going to get away with that.

I sighed, then started. "Remember before we left first year? With Charlie?" He nodded, but didn't say anything. "Remember what he said about girls?" I got a blank stare and a single nod. Apparently, I was losing my twin with my thought process, something that had never happened before. "Did you see it Gred?" The blank stare continued. "That girl. Hermione Granger. Isn't she… Didn't you see it?"

"See what Forge? A bushy haired girl that we don't know that you just spilled secrets to? We've never seen her before! I stand by what I said, she could be put in Slytherin for all we know." I had never disagreed with him more.

"No George. That girl will be a Gryffindor. She's going to join us. Charlie said that a girl was beautiful because she was _right_. That girl is going to be right." George didn't say anything else about it, he just nodded, and moved on to discussing our plans for the night, and when Lee joined us, we finalized our plans for that evening.

That was the first time I saw Hermione Granger, and that was the first time I knew that she was beautiful.

* * *

I watched her a lot that year, as she seemed so lonely. Ron was a git, we all knew that, but he was just so awful to her in particular. I tried to ensure that she smiled, dragging George into hare-brained schemes (as usual) to make her laugh.

Then there was a troll on Halloween. There was a whirlwind at dinner, what with us sitting at the table, talking quidditch with Angelina, Alicia, and Katie, and then Quirrel came in, screaming about a troll and then fainting. Turban face was quite…melodramatic. Whose decision had it been to hire him?

We made our way with the girls up to the common room, making sure that we stood to the sides of them. We knew that they didn't actually _need_ protecting, but our personal studies have taught us some more advanced spells and whatnot. Plus, mum would have our heads if she found out that we did anything less than be gentlemen.

We waited up in the common room, aware that Ron and Potter were missing, but also Hermione. Eventually, Ron, Potter, and Hermione returned, all looking rather disheveled, though Hermione was filthy.

They came in together, which was a shock since Ron had said some not-so-nice things about the girl according to rumors. Hermione went up to the girl's dormitory to clean up, and Ron shared what happened. We settled down to listen to the ridiculous tale in the comfy couch closest to the fire, sitting across from Ron and Potter, who quickly claimed the squishy armchairs. Somehow, our baby brother had managed to get involved in more hijinks than we had this year!

Hermione came back down, freshly washed hair barely contained in a braid, which looked like it had soaked through her overly-large shirt. She looked comfy, adorably so. By this point, Ron had told us that she had taken the blame for looking for the troll to prevent them from getting into more trouble, so George and I scooted over to allow for a space between us on the couch. She blushed before settling in.

Inevitably, the conversation turned away from the troll excitement and onto Quidditch. Harry seemed to still be learning, though he was the 'youngest seeker in a century.' He had no idea about the teams in the Quidditch League, and Ron was wholeheartedly professing that the Cannons would make it this year. George and I let ourselves settle into the conversation, but I noticed Hermione was not participating.

"Hey." I nudged her side and whispered to her conspiratorially. Being a big brother, I knew that sometimes people just need to be asked how they are.

"Hey." She muttered back, turning her face toward me, wiping the look of boredom off her face.

"How are you really? You look comfy, but uncomfortable at the same time." It was true. Even though she was wearing what appeared to be her coziest clothes, a purple tee so large it could have fit Charlie and a pair of sweatpants, she seemed to be sitting stiff as a board. She seemed to relax into the conversation, while also making sure to not truly participate.

"Well, I am. I'm wearing what I always wore at home after a stressful day, and I braided my hair. While I don't really like talking about quidditch that much, I am enjoying being included." She was playing with the ends of the braid now, which was beginning to protest its capture in the large braid. I watched her as two rather large chunks popped out, and she sighed as she tried to tuck them back in. "I am so not good at that. My mum used to braid my hair for me."

I patted the ground between my knees. "Luckily for you, mum always made me braid Ginny's hair. She made me and George learn how, I think she was trying to keep us out of trouble by giving us stuff to do." She hesitated, looking like she wasn't going to trust me not to tie her hair into knots. Which, really, she shouldn't with our track record. But I was being sincere. "You'll meet her next year, she's a year younger than you all. I promise to do nothing weird. I really have been braiding Ginny's hair for years with no complaints." She looked up, glancing toward the Quidditch conversation going on next to us.

Ron and George both looked at her and nodded without breaking up their conversation—well argument about the Cannons chances. At their agreement, she slid down off the couch, hoping that he would be able to tame her hair.

"How did your mom do it?" I asked, taking out her hair tie.

"She used to do 2 French braids, but inside out. She pulled it really tight so that it wouldn't pop out overnight. It was the only time that my hair was tame." I nodded at this, and it seemed like she was going to trust me with this.

I started to separate and gently tug at her hair. It was surprisingly relaxing, reminding me of home and Ginny. Ginny is our favorite sister. Well, she's our only sister, but if we had more she would still be our favorite. I started talking again, quietly telling Hermione how we sent Ginny a toilet seat during our first week and then about the toilet we blew up.

* * *

She won us the cup. I know that Dumbledore did it so that Neville's 10 points—bogus, he deserved more than that—tipped the scales, but really, we all know that none of it would have happened without her. I watched as she flushed at the attention, then continued to watch her as we celebrated. She glowed in the excitement, and she hugged everyone within her reach. When I got my hug, I squeezed her back before picking her up and tossing her to George for his hug. She laughed, and looked like she was going to scold me with that big smile and her hair all huge. I was going to miss her this summer.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading! I don't have much written, so I really have no idea how long it will be between posts. But I thought of this story and just had to write it, so that should mean something. Loved the fact that some of you liked this enough to review or follow, just based on the prologue! That made my heart happy!**


	3. Chapter 2: Miss Missing?

She defended us, she did. And she looked beautiful doing it. Her hair had a mind all of its own, I swear that it started sparking at one point. Malfoy was a dumb little git, trying to insult us for being poor. And she got him back she did, "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in!" I don't know if anything could have cut him more, I even felt bad for the tiniest moment at the expression on his face.

Then he sneered. And called her that…awful word. I saw red. How dare he! I lunged for him, but there were arms around me. And George too. They were trying to stop us. But they didn't stop Ron, who had reached for his wand. But then, we all remembered about Ron's wand too late. The jinx he was trying to send at Malfoy rebounded on himself, and then they were gone. Hermione and Potter were leading Ron away, off the pitch.

I managed to get loose, then got through to Malfoy, who looked white as a sheet. "You had better hope that I never hear that word out of your mouth again. You can tell your father 'about this,' but I will see to it that you are absolutely miserable, do you hear me?" Malfoy gulped, but held his chin high, the idiot.

Ah, there goes the good mood from quidditch. Although, Hermione was brilliant. She is always rather brilliant, but watching her tell off Malfoy was absolutely beautiful. Stupid Charlie.

* * *

Hermione was missing. She had been for over a week now, and nobody knew where she was. All that Potter and Ron would say was that she was okay, and that she would be back when she was ready. They were rather tight lipped, surprising really. Ron wasn't really known for being able to keep secrets. They did not seem to be missing their brain though, which suggested that she was nearby.

Though they hadn't befriended her until Halloween last year, they were almost as close as me and George, and Hermione had quickly become the functioning brain of the trio. How they had survived without her up to that point was a mystery.

It was frustrating though, they wouldn't answer my questions. "I just want to know where she is!" I didn't think it was too unreasonable to want to know where my friend was, and I had managed to corner them in the common room as they came in through the portrait hole. They had managed to avoid me for almost 3 days now, and I was done with waiting.

Ron, on the other hand, looked confused and a little frustrated by my concern. Like I said, he was not the part of the trio that had brains. He was smart enough most of the time, but he was lacking in emotional intelligence and common sense. Harry looked mildly guilty, but I have come to realize that the boy blames himself for everything that goes wrong that could be vaguely related to him. He has a martyr complex.

He realized what was happening on both ends, and turned to my younger brother, who I suddenly realized was almost as tall as us. When had that happened? "They're friends Ron. Hermione was just telling me that Fred and George helped her with some of her advanced studying. Fred's just worried about her." Harry then turned to me, reaching up to adjust his glasses. "We can't tell you where she is or what happened. We were told not to, but also Hermione asked us not to tell anyone. She's okay, she'll be back soon. We just got back from visiting." He still looked slightly guilty, but knowing that she was okay made me actually feel better.

"You promise she's okay?" Harry and Ron both nodded. "Well, since we didn't see you at dinner, George and I grabbed you some food." Well, really George knew that I was planning on cornering them later and wanted to make sure that they ate. They hadn't been at dinner the last two nights either. I walked back over to where George was sitting and offered them the parcels of food that we had gathered for them. It had gone cold, but the boys didn't seem to care. They scarfed it down like they were starving, which I knew they weren't because I saw them eat at lunch. Harry didn't usually eat that much, but at least his manners were better than Ron's.

George started talking to them about something, but I tuned it out. I thought about how Harry had called us Fred and George earlier. It was never George and Fred, it was always Fred and George. Very few people even said it like that, mostly people called us FredandGeorge, one name, as if we were one person. I knew that we presented as one entity, but sometimes it was nice to be addressed by my name, and not have it be a guess. Does George ever feel left out, always following me? I come first when people talk about us, I'm the one who comes up with the craziest ideas, but he is always right there with me, diving into our schemes.

That was one of the things that I liked about Hermione, she paid attention and called us by the correct name every time. Harry was pretty good at telling us apart too, he got it right most of the time. The only other person who could reliably tell us apart was Professor McGonagall. We think that Snape can tell us apart, but I know he doesn't care enough to call us by our names.

I needed to talk to George about this, but it could wait. I threw myself into the conversation with as much excitement about Quidditch (of course) as I could muster right now, but my thoughts were on Hermione and George.

* * *

Quidditch had been cancelled. If they were trying to distract us, that was one of the worst things that they could have done. However, knowing that we now had a free day, George and I had spent hours in our dorm, plotting our revenge. It was several months after the fact, but we were proud because we had created something just for this occasion. It was rather difficult and complicated magic.

But George and I had done it! We had managed to come up with the perfect plan to get revenge on Malfoy for calling Hermione a mud- I can't even think it. Dirty git. We went downstairs to the common room to share our success with the three that we knew would appreciate it the most. As we finished the dormitory staircase, we came to a busy room. Everybody was whispering these days with their friends, keeping close together and making clusters throughout the common room. However, this meant that people were not making way for us. This was surprisingly easy to fix.

"Make way, make way! We need to see his royal snakiness, the Heir of Slytherin people. Where is Potter?" And sure enough, a pathway cleared on the way to Harry and Ron, who somehow always managed to snag the comfy chairs near the fire. That joke, while way past its expiration date, still worked. Play with people's fears, and you shall get results. George elbowed me in the ribs though, and gave me that look that told me I went too far,

"We have something to show you!" we sang as we approached the pair and dropped into the couch facing them, while I looked for the bushy head of their third…half? The three were thicker than thieves these days.

"I think the three of you would enjoy it, where's Granger?" George asked, and we watched their faces fall even more. Seriously, you wouldn't think that two twelve-year-olds could look that sad, but they managed it. They looked like they were in mourning. "Well?" George added impatiently. The color drained from Harry's face, and Ron's face turned greenish.

"Where. Is. Hermione? This isn't funny." I gritted it out. I quickly managed to connect the dots, along with George. He looked at me in a panic, while I looked at the two second year boys. They looked like they were going to cry. Hell, they looked like they had been crying. Hermione was a muggle-born. Muggle-borns were being attacked. Not Hermione, please not her.

"Haven't you heard?" Harry asked hoarsely. I slowly shook my head as I slumped back into the couch. "Hermione got attacked. She's petrified. She's in the hospital wing. And Dumbledore is gone."

My world went white. I saw nothing, and I heard nothing for several moments. Not Hermione, she was too good and smart for this to happen! She was the kind of beautiful Charlie told us about so many years ago.

My hearing returned first. George was asking questions quietly, asking how if she was okay (obviously not, she was petrified), asking if they had been allowed to see her, asking if they were okay. He was in big brother mode, but also in worried twin mode. He was asking the questions for me since he knew I would want to know, but he was trying to be comforting for the younger boys who looked so lost. My vision came back hazily. The boys had tears on their faces, and they looked defeated.

George was talking to them, saying quiet, meaningless things meant to make them feel better, but his eyes were trained on me with evident concern. I shook my head, now was not the time to think like that. I joined George, trying to comfort the boys. We pushed the plush crimson couches closer to the fire, further from the rest of the crowd. George signaled Lee over, and the two of them went off to the kitchens to find something comforting from the house elves. Potter, Ron, and I all stared into the fire, trying to take comfort in the warmth.

Once we went to our room at the end of the night, George informed me that we weren't allowed to visit the hospital wing anymore. Something about Pomfrey being worried about the Heir of Slytherin finishing the job. He checked on his way down to the kitchens earlier. He sat there on his bed, right next to mine. I laid on my own, my head toward the foot of the bed, staring up at the ceiling, dangling my right leg off the bed. I turned my head toward him. He sat with his legs crossed, looking at me seriously. There aren't many situations that make us serious, but this was one of them.

He pulled out last years Christmas jumper and passed it to me, knowing that having that G on my chest would provide some small amount of comfort. I sat up to pull it on, getting an idea as I did so.

"George?" my voice was quiet, but I knew he heard me.

"Yeah Freddie?" He sounded relieved, but kept his voice low to match mine.

"Potter has that cloak, right? That's how the three of them are always sneaking around?"

"You want me to get it?"

"Could you just ask to borrow it please?"

"Yeah Freddie. I can do that." He sounded relieved to have something to do, we don't do too great with sitting still. He got up and left, turning to glance at me one last time on his way out.

He returned with the cloak. "Harry said we could borrow it for the night. We need to give it back in the morning."

"Thanks Gred. I have somewhere to go."

"I know Forge. See you later. Go see Granger."

I stopped by the library, smuggling out the book I wanted under the cloak. After all, nobody could know that I borrowed it. Me and George had a reputation to uphold after all. All of our library studying was done in secret, hidden in corners and in the back rows of bookshelves, not signing out any books so we could leave a spotless library record. We tended to not borrow books, but this was a special case. I snuck down the hall, taking a shortcut up to the hospital wing that they had found on the map two years ago.

I stuck my head in and looked around before entering, habits formed from sneaking around for so long without the luxury of an invisibility cloak. Lucky sod, that Harry Potter. Of course, he does have Voldemort after him, so maybe he deserves this bit of luck.

First order of business was to double check that Madam Pomfrey was not in the area. A cursory glance around told me that she was not in the room, but that didn't say much. I crouched down in the corner, trying to be careful and Weasley twin sneaky. I pulled out my wand and a piece of ratty parchment, muttering "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map came to life before me, footprints and names beneath them telling me where everyone is. Good, good, Pomfrey was in her chambers next door. If I stayed quiet, she would stay there. Now checking the names of those in the beds… Colin Creevy, Penelope Clearwater… Hermione Granger was in the third bed on the left.

I snuck over to her bedside, ducking past the curtains obscuring her from the view of any who entered. Too many beds in the Hospital Wing had their curtains drawn right now. I sat in one of the chairs that I presumed had held Ron and Potter earlier. I drew my eyes up to her form.

She was frozen, one arm extended, her other fist clenched tightly over the blanket. There was a small mirror, of all things, lying on the small table on her other side. Her hair was the part of her most full of life, still energetic and large even while frozen solid. I thought that it was awful, she was so vibrant all the time, but now she just lay there. The position looked incredibly uncomfortable to be frozen in for such a long time. I just stared for a few minutes, taking the cloak off my head. I wanted to be prepared for an easy escape, but I also didn't like having to breathe through the fabric. I reached one hand out and traced it over her exposed arm. She felt cold and stiff.

I took a deep breath and started talking, muttering really. She would have been able to hear me, had she been able to hear, but nobody else would have. One of the things that you learn when you sneak around as much as I do was to speak quietly. "Hi Hermione. Fred here. I just wanted to visit, see you here. This is awful, I miss you. So do Harry and Ron. You are their brain," I chuckle lightly at the joke and took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't know how they'll cope without you. But I heard that they stopped allowing visitors to the hospital wing, so me being a rule breaker and all, I of course decided to visit. I know, I know, I'm breaking school rules. I bet you would be helping perfect prefect Percy to lecture me about it."

I rambled on for a bit longer, talking about whatever nonsense I could come up with. Then I pulled out the book. "So, I figured that if nothing else, I could make sure that you had your favorite book. I smuggled this out of the library for you, I'll hide it behind your pillow when I leave tonight." And I started reading _Hogwarts, A History_.

I snuck back out after reading a decent chunk of the book, leaving it behind her pillow as promised. I took one last look before I pulled the hood of the invisibility cloak back up and returned to the room. I checked the map to ensure that I would take the path of least resistance back to Gryffindor tower, as I wasn't sure if it was after curfew. I went back to my room, returning the cloak back to Harry's trunk on the way. They were all asleep, but George was waiting for me, sitting up on his bed, propped with Charlie's old 6th year charms text in his lap and a quill in his right hand.

"Well?" he asked expectantly, putting the quill he had been taking notes in the margins back onto the nightstand between our beds, placing the book at the foot of his bed, still propped open. I don't think he noticed it flip to a random page when he set it on the rumpled blanket.

I sat down slowly onto my bed, carefully taking off my shoes. "She's petrified. It's awful George. I got her favorite book from the library, snuck it out of course, and read to her. Did I do the wrong thing Georgie?" I laid back in the same position as earlier, my right leg swinging from my knee off the side of the bed.

"No Forge. I don't think you did. If nothing else, she would appreciate the book. Granger would be swotty enough to enjoy reading even though she couldn't do it herself. Now flip to the right side of the bed, Fred, and go to sleep. She's as fine as she can be right now."

I did as he said, except for the going to sleep part. It is rather hard to go to sleep when there is the constant _scritching_ of a quill from the bed next to mine.

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 **A/N: Wow, the response is amazing! Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, favorited and followed Mi Own!**


	4. Chapter 3: Returned to Us!

Ginny was gone, taken into the Chamber of Secrets.

We stayed in the common room that morning, lost in our own grief. Everyone had given us space, not knowing how to treat the boys who had just lost their younger sister. Even Lee wasn't with us. We had sat there, slumped on the couch we liked so much, not talking, just being pressed to each other's sides. After about an hour of that, we had gotten up to go to our room, not wanting to be stared at. We curled up on George's bed together, just trying to gain comfort from each other's presence.

That was how Lee found us several hours later, me on my back staring at the ceiling, George on his stomach with his face propped up by the pillow he was hugging. He looked at us happily—how could he be happy? Our world was ending, and he was sitting there grinning at us like a fool!

"Oi, you lot. Enough moping. If you had been downstairs, you would have heard already! Harry Potter and Ron went down and saved Ginny. They're all in the hospital wing!" I just stared at him, trying to process the words that just seemed to toss around my brain again and again.

George pushed himself so that he turned over onto his back, then sat up. I stayed down, the words had almost processed themselves in my brain. "Hospital wing?" George asked, voice cracking with hours of disuse, dehydration, and renewed hope.

Lee looked at us again, and I guess he didn't like what he saw, so he pinched us both on the arm. Hard. It worked, we both sprang into action. We leapt off the bed and tackled Lee onto the floor. That lead to a very disorganized cluster of limbs on the hardwood. Lee let out a wheeze as we knocked the air from his lungs, George yelped, I think he hit his elbow on the ground, and I groaned. I had banged into the floor with all my weight on my right knee.

Ginny was back, she was safe. We had failed to protect her. Harry (it was Harry now, he did save our sister after all) and Ron had gone to save her. Who would have known that our little brother could be so heroic?

I fell off Lee, tumbling to my right side before I scrambled back up to my feet, launching myself at my twin. "They're all right! They're all right!" was chanted again and again, as we jumped up and down in our hug. Lee groaned again, and we split apart from each other before reaching down and hauling him to his feet. We couldn't leave him out, he had told us the great news after all!

Before we could start chanting again, Lee broke in. "Alright guys, how about you go visit them and stop beating me up." Ever the voice of reason, Lee was. Even if the voice of reason was sounding winded.

We flew down the dorm steps and through the castle, slowing only when we got to the corridor that contained the door to the hospital wing. I'm honestly surprised we didn't run over anyone on our way. George and I reached for the door and looked at each other before entering. I took comfort in my twin's steady presence at my side. Knowing that he was there allowed me to take the steps into the room.

Upon entering the room, I froze. I had no idea where they were, or if we were even technically allowed to be there. As they had been for months, several of the curtains were pulled around the beds. I wondered if we were going to have to peek through all of them to find our family, I had no desire to see the poor petrified people lying in their beds. We heard a low hiss and then an "ouch!" yelped from one of the beds near the back. I looked at George and grinned, feeling slightly more settled at hearing Ron's voice. We walked toward the back of the room, and came to three beds with the curtains open.

On the first, Harry was dirty, but seemed okay. He was sleeping with his mouth open, his glasses in three pieces on the nightstand next to him. Next to him was Ron, who looked even more dirty than Harry. He was wincing as Madam Pomfrey rubbed a nasty smelling potion onto his side. I couldn't see what she was doing, but I knew from the smell of the potion that Ron must have had some nasty cuts on him. Mum used to use that when we would fall from our brooms during quidditch games when we were young. We were quite the crazy bunch, still are honestly.

We could tell that Ron was going to be there for a while once we got past Pomfrey, his shirt was off and he was covered in cuts. None of them looked too terribly nasty, except for one on his forehead. Some of them had bandages over them, but most looked dirty still. Poor Ron, that had to hurt. Rather than get him riled up, we continued on. We could see that he was okay, but we still needed confirmation about our baby sister.

Past Ron's bed was Ginny. Our beautiful little Gin Gin. She sat on her bed with her arms around her knees. Her hair was everywhere, blocking her face from our view. Her curtains were drawn on all but the side towards Ron's bed. I watched as she flinched when Ron let out another sharp hiss of pain.

George hesitated, but I pulled him with me to see our sister. I guided him to the side closer while I went to the further side. We both sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped our arms around her.

"Hey Gin Gin. Your favorite brothers are here." I muttered to her, trying not to notice her shaking in my arms. She dug her head further into her knees.

"Gin bug, we've got you, you're fine, they're fine, Pomfrey's getting everybody fixed up. Don't hide from us." Though I couldn't see him with my head buried in Ginny's shoulder, I knew George was close to crying. I had to do something, had to fix this. I pulled out the trick wand from the pocket of my robe and shoved it by her shins so that she could see it.

"See this? This is going to be big. It's a trick wand we had planned for Malfoy. We were going to trade it for his, and leave a pretty hefty sticking charm so that he can't let go for of it." I reached for her hand and pressed it into her palm. I then tried for my best Olivander voice. "Well go on, give it a wave!"

She did, with a sobbing hiccup that broke my heart. And it turned into a rubber chicken with bug eyes. She picked her head up a little bit, watching the wand while trying to keep her face hidden in her hair. "Do it again, it gets better. Or worse? We're haven't decided yet, maybe you can tell us." George's voice was low, trying to hide the quavering. Neither one of us could really stand to watch Ginny cry, she was far too fierce for that. She had only cried when she was little and gotten hurt.

She waved the wand again, and the rubber chicken opened its mouth and started quacking obnoxiously. Ginny sat up, and I could see the tear stains on her face. But I could also see the grin breaking through the sadness. We got her to sit up and hug us properly. Well, as properly as she could with us squished onto her tiny hospital bed. "Why is it quacking?"

"Well Gin Gin," I started, knowing that George was going to be better at explaining what had happened in understandable terms. Lots of times, I came up with the ideas, but he came up with how to execute them.

"We got the transfiguration right, which is why it's a chicken. But then we started trying to get it to make animal noises. It started out by barking, then purring, then it started getting…weird. This is actually the first one we made that has managed to sound like a bird. Wrong bird, but who really cares? Alas, we do need to work on it because once it starts, it doesn't stop making that noise until long after it stops sounding like it should."

Even as he was speaking, the chicken's quacking had started to sound staticky, even demented. Ginny tried waving it again, but it didn't do anything. "Yeah Gin. We can't shut it off." I really didn't think this through. I wanted her and George to smile and laugh, not stick her with a demented chicken making duck noises.

"Can't you vanish it?" Ginny sounded slightly worried about it now, it was kind of screaming.

Pomfrey cut in, it had obviously begun to annoy her. "Mr. Weasleys! Get rid of that infernal racket before I get rid of you!" She continued to tend to Ron, who now seemed to be asleep.

I pulled out my wand and vanished the trick wand before an idea popped into my head. I leaned closer to Ginny and George before whispering to my twin. "Hey, what if we make it so they can't be vanished, they only get more obnoxious?" George nodded, then pulled my notebook out of his pocket and grabbed a quill off the nightstand between Ginny and Ron's beds to start taking notes.

We managed to cheer Ginny up for an hour before Pomfrey kicked us out of the Hospital Wing for being too loud. On my way out, I managed to duck behind Hermione's curtain for a moment to touch her hand. George waited for me at the door, and we headed back to the common room.

* * *

She was free! Madam Pomfrey had brewed the mandrake potion, and fixed all the petrified people! I looked around, trying to find her after Dumbledore's announcement, but her bushy hair was nowhere to be found. The doors to the Great Hall opened, and in wandered in the students who had been petrified. Nearly Headless Nick floated up from the Gryffindor table, striking up a conversation with Percy and his group.

Hermione came in last, running up to Harry and Ron. She all but jumped on them, talking rapidly about how they did it, they figured it out! It amused me that she was so proud of them for figuring out that she had a piece of paper in her hands when she was petrified, they were in there constantly. They had gotten special permission to visit their best friend.

Lucky for me, we had all sat together that night. Harry and Ron sat across from me, George, and Ginny. We had her between us. Poor Ginny was still trying to hide her face in her shiny vibrant hair, but we weren't going to let anyone say anything to her about her role in the attacks. Not like it was her fault, she was possessed. Stupid gits. Harry and Ron had squished Hermione between them, they really had missed her a lot

Hermione looked disappointed when she heard exams were going to be cancelled, silly girl. I did know that she worked hard to study, and had been preparing for her end-of-year exams long before she had been petrified. I knew that she was upset because she had been prepared for these tests, I thought that she felt like she needed to prove herself a witch, but I also knew that everyone would call her a swot for being upset over cancelled exams. I knew that because I had spent several evenings trying to bring her out of her study-induced haze over the last few months.

George flicked a vegetable at me, which made me realize that I had been staring at Hermione and made Ginny giggle. Anything that cheered my Gin Gin up was a good idea in my opinion. I went to pick up a handful of vegetables to throw them at George, but Hermione, Harry, and Ron all told me that we shouldn't start a food fight. I thought that it would have been an excellent celebration tactic, but Hermione and Georgie both gave me looks that said no when I picked it up. If George was saying no, it either meant that I was crossing a line or that he just didn't want to get a face full of food. But since it was Hermione too, I figured that it would have crossed a line, and I rather liked having her happy.

Ginny picked her head and laughed at me. She then saw Hermione across the table and put her head back down. "Hermione, I'm sorry." My little Gin Gin sounded so broken.

Hermione though, she was intense. "Ginny, you didn't do it. How do you feel about muggleborns?" After a moment with no response from Ginny, she tried again. "Do you want me dead?"

Ginny started violently. I knew that they had become friends over the year, though they weren't close. I also knew that nobody in our family had any blood prejudice, we Weasleys are quite the accepting lot. "Of course not! Why would I want you dead?"

"Okay then. Did you want me to be petrified for a month?" A vehement shake of her head. "Do you still want to be friends?" A hesitant nod from my baby sister. "Well, then. That's settled. You couldn't help it, you were being possessed. How about you just promise to never talk back to a magical artifact that you don't know where it came from?" Hermione went through the conversation as she always did, completely sure of herself and her information.

Ginny finally picked her head up to meet Hermione's gaze. "Really? You don't hate me?"

Hermione looked genuinely confused now, which is something that I never thought that I would see. "Why would I hate you? You didn't do it." I was relieved to see that at least one person outside of the family and Harry that wasn't giving Ginny dirty looks.

Word had spread through the castle that Ginny had been the one behind the attacks, and even though people also knew that she had been possessed and had no control over her actions, they had been giving her dirty looks in the common room and during meals since she had gotten out of the hospital wing yesterday. She had been hiding in our room with us the rest of the time. Nobody in our room cared, they knew she had been a victim. Our roomies hadn't been with us much, the weather had been tolerable for a change, so they had all been outside as much as possible.

We finished our meals and headed back to our common room before most everyone else. That meant that when we entered, the comfy chairs and couch by the fire were wide open for us to use. George and I claimed the couch, and Harry and Ron claimed the two chairs. Hermione sat down between George and I while Ginny sat in front of me.

She turned around and looked up at me. "Braid my hair pretty please?" I was happy to do so, this meant that she was feeling better. Probably. I set to doing so, giving a gentle tug when I finished her braid.

"Now Gin Gin, what do I get for doing your hair?" She turned around to face me, still sitting on the floor. This was a game we played, she knew I would do it whenever she wanted me to. George was the one who required payment, he usually wanted her to act as a diversion so that we could pull off a prank. She usually enjoyed it, she did like being the center of attention.

Ginny looked thoughtful, she knew that I was mostly teasing. "Hmm. What would you like?" I hoped she had finished punishing herself. We had gone over that already, I didn't want her to do anything. We had no pranks planned for the moment, so I wasn't going to pull a George and use her as a diversion.

"How about, I don't know, you help us pull 3 pranks this summer?" I knew this was a long shot, but she needed to practicing negotiating. Important life skill, that. I also knew this was part of the game.

"How about no. How about I help you with 1 prank before break?" She started smiling then, the special smile that George and I get when we help her pull a prank. Mum thinks that she's her little angel, but all of us boys know better. She was almost as mischievous as us, on level with Charlie. The two of them together could do some major damage if they wanted to.

Once Charlie had set his eyes on being a dragon tamer, Ginny had wanted to be one too. Charlie had snuck into her room and painted a huge dragon on one of her walls. When we got home last year from school, we found out that she had had an accidental magic episode that enchanted it to move around the walls. When Charlie found out, he sent her a large stuffed dragon and some chocolates to "comfort" her.

She had conned each of us into teaching her how to fly, since Mum was overprotective of her. So, she knew all the little tips that we had come up with or found out. She also could play any position she wanted in quidditch, she had gotten taught by Charlie as seeker, us as beaters, Bill as chaser, and Ron as keeper. Bill had been to busy to play at school, but he enjoyed playing quidditch whenever he could. Not only had she gotten each and every one of us to go against Mum's wishes, but none of us had known about the others until Charlie caught us on the quidditch pitch with the bats and bludgers out.

So when she suggested that she help with a prank, I was all in. Normally she just wants to be the diversion, but for her to actually take part meant that we had more options. We could use her to get into the girl's dorms if we wanted to go that way, or we could use her outside opinion in some of our experiments or… I stopped myself before I could think of anything else, I needed to accept her deal before she retracted it. "You have a deal Gin Gin." I reached out to shake her hand, another important life skill Georgie and I had taught her. She shook mine, then George's hands while Hermione looked at us, shaking her head. Hermione had no idea the type of damage Ginny could do. I had some ideas to fix that though.

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 **A/N: Thank you all for reading, please review :) I would really appreciate feedback. Things should start picking up in the next few chapters.**


	5. Chapter 4: Bubble Bubble, Toil and

The cauldron in our room was bubbling violently now, but instead of the nice clear pink it should have been, it was an ugly shade of florescent red-orange. It should have smelled like candy, but it was instead putting off obnoxious fumes and some sickly green smoke.

"Georgie, abort!" I yelled loudly enough for him to hear me in the bathroom. I turned off the fire fueling the potion and ran over to open the window. George rushed out of the bathroom and we made a break for the door. We slammed it shut behind us and heard a huge, booming THUD come from the room. I followed George as we threw ourselves down the stairs, coming to a stop in the common room.

We looked at each other for a moment, each making sure that the other looked just ruffled enough to be convincing for our innocent act. George passed muster, his hair mussed up just so. I looked down to complete the check when I realized that his trousers were on but unzipped and buttoned. I started giggling, rather annoyingly, and pointed down to show him what he had done. Or, well, not done.

I figured that it would take about an hour for the smoke to clear from our room, so we made our way to our couch. George started talking as we plopped down facing each other on the red plush…something. "What in the name of Godric's great geese happened Forge?" His voice was slightly higher than normal, still excited by the potion blowing up and our run down to the common room.

"I'm not sure, I added the moly and stirred clockwise, then it turned the wrong color. I thought we had it right this time Gred, I really did." A cough sounded from behind the couch, well really, behind me as I sat sideways on the couch.

A feminine voice sounded from behind me, "Moly needs to sit for 10 seconds before you stir a potion Fred, you should know that." Hermione came into my field of view as she sat between us in her normal spot on the couch. I brought both hands up to my face and facepalmed. Past Hermione, George's shoulders started shaking. He burst out into big belly laughs, pointing at me. I however, was affronted.

"How would you know, we're not making anything that you've learned about!" It came out of my mouth far squeakier than it should have, adding to my embarrassment.

Hermione, however, was completely unfazed, turning to face each of us in turn. "I know you two know better, we learned it in herbology, not potions. You do pay attention to your education, whether you think anyone else has noticed or not." Damn, she had us pegged. However, we had to maintain the illusion in public, which we were in.

George snorted. "We do no such thing," I nodded along with him since she had turned back to me.

"Whatever. Why were you using moly? Why would you want to make Wiggenweld potion?" She sounded so sure of herself, it was cute. Damn, I have to stop thinking about her like that.

"We were brewing no such thing. But thank you for telling me about letting it sit." After all, I couldn't tell her what we were brewing. George and I were trying to see if we could actually make pranks. We had already managed to improve our trick wands, but Ginny was the only one who knew about those. We were trying to make candies to get people out of class. I was sure that this one would work for making somebody faint, but I wasn't about to test that awful batch of the potion. Or let my twin test it. I wouldn't even test it on Malfoy yet, that could get us into major trouble if we got caught. It would serve him right, though.

I made a mental note to suggest pranking the Slytherin quidditch team to George soon, and returned my attention to the conversation. Hermione was starting to talk about how Malfoy got scratched by Buckbeak, one of Hagrid's hippogriffs. I noticed how shiny her hair looked right now, and how the riotous curls reflected the light of the fire, making it look like her hair was a dark set of flames, all dark reds with orange-ish highlights.

"I love Hagrid, really, I do. But he does need to be more careful. Malfoy's father could cause a lot of trouble for Dumbledore and the school. Can I tell you two something that you can't tell Harry and Ron?" I nodded for the two of us, she couldn't see George since she was looking at me. She seemed to accept that we both spoke for the other and continued at a much lower volume, "I don't think that Hagrid's a very good professor. Harry and Ron would be so upset if I told them, and I think that Hagrid has a lot of room for improvement."

She interrupted herself to ask me to braid her hair. I hopped onto the arm of the couch I was leaning against and had her turn around so that I could work while she talked to us. I was just excited to be able to touch her, I loved how soft her hair was. I wanted to run my hands through it and mess it up though, but I would take anything I could get. She wouldn't appreciate that though, she had enough problems.

She started talking again, her asking me to braid her hair not stopping the steady flow of words coming out of her. "Anyways, just look at the book he had us get. Monster Book of Monsters, really?" Her tone returned to a more normal volume as she realized that nobody was paying attention, or even close to us.

George butted in, "I think it's brilliant. I know that you respect and like Hagrid, and these are legitimate complaints, but I think you should give him time to adjust. This is his first time teaching, after all." George could get deep sometimes, and he was always very forgiving.

Hermione sounded worried that she had offended the two of us, "I don't mean that he's doing a bad job, just that he could improve! Please don't tell anyone, I just wanted to get it off my chest and you two are better to talk to about this kind of thing than Harry or Ron. Hagrid did tell us not to get close to the hippogriff without a returned bow, but Malfoy is an idiot and got hurt because of his idiotic choices. He deserved what he got." I didn't know that Hermione could be so…vindictive. I liked it. Maybe we could use her in some of our pranks?

McGonagall came into the common room, causing a wave of silence to hit the room as the Gryffindors noticed her presence. I had just tied Hermione's braid off with her hair tie and flicked it over her shoulder to let her know it was done by the time McGonagall got to us.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley. Come with me. Now." Uh oh, McGonagall was mad. She usually was okay with some of our pranks, as long as they weren't done in her presence or hurt anyone. I looked at George, he looked the picture of innocence. He could pull it off better than I could, and it took a moment for me to school my face to be a perfect match for his. Luckily, McGonagall hadn't come close enough to see my face.

We followed her to her office and sat down in two rather uncomfortable chairs. I think she transfigured to be more uncomfortable than usually, since they were sometimes quite pleasant. Sometimes, she pretended to chastise us when we pulled off a well-executed prank, and whenever she did that the chairs were always comfortable, and she usually offered biscuits when that was the case.

No biscuits were offered as she settled herself into the chair on the other side of her desk. She steepled her fingers together and leaned forward in her seat. "What," she did not sound amused. Ouch. "Did you two think was alright with experimenting with potions in your bedroom? That, in case you forgot, is also the bedroom of four other classmates? You know how volatile experimental potions can be, I know you've worked on them before."

How had she found out about the failed fainting candy? Oooh, we should call them Fainting Fancies when we finish them. "Potions experiments Professor McGonagall? What potions experiment?"

She well and truly blasted us with her worst look. The one where she's disappointed in one of her cubs. "The potions experiment that was reported to blow up your room by five separate students, who all complained of a loud explosion and smoke coming from your room. The potions experiment that you can still see the smoke billowing out of your window through mine, right there." She pointed one of her long fingers at the window, which indeed looked towards ours. A sickly green-grey smoke was slowly billowing from what must have been our window. "I will be telling your mother. This is crossing the line. I do need to discuss this with the headmaster before I can give you your punishment." I tried to keep the color to my face, I really did, but I was sure that I looked as pale as George did sitting next to me.

Our mother? Dumbledore? It was just an experiment! If Dumbledore was getting involved, it could mean that we would get expelled for causing an explosion in our room. I started to panic before I looked back at her as she continued. "Look, you two. This is going too far. I will give you your punishment after dinner tonight, come back to my office on your way to the common room. You are dismissed."

* * *

George and I were facing Professor McGonagall's door for the second time that day. This time though, we knew that we could be in more trouble than we should have gotten into. We had messed up, and we knew it. I raised my fist to the door, but it opened before I could make contact to knock.

McGonagall sat in her chair, a stack of parchment on her desk to her left, and Dumbledore stood next to her. McGonagall looked up at us and gestured for us to sit. I noted that the chairs were much more comfortable than before, which I hoped meant that she had forgiven us.

Dumbledore spoke, in that way he has that makes everyone listen no matter how loudly he speaks. "You two have been breaking the rules for quite some time, but blowing up your bedroom has caused more of a problem than your previous pranks. Your roommates do not want you in the room with them anymore. Your mother has been contacted, but we have decided your punishment." I gulped. We were getting kicked out, we had crossed a line somehow. Usually we were fine, but if they were bringing in mum…

Professor McGonagall's fireplace turned green, and out popped my mother. McGonagall stood and both professors greeted mum. She glared at us, but let McGonagall speak. All three adults were standing, but George and I were still seated, trying to act very small. "Firstly, you will have detention every night for a month straight, weekends included, with me." Not too bad, McGonagall's detentions were fair. They weren't kicking us out if they were giving us detention. "Next, you are no longer allowed in your dormitory." I cocked my head at her, confused. "You will be sharing an extra room so that your future disturbances only bother the two of you. Yes, I do know that there will be more incidences. Next, you will not be allowed to attend the first Hogsmeade trip at the end of next month. Does that seem fair to everyone?"

George and I nodded vigorously. I was a little too intimidated by the three of them in one place. Both of the witches standing in front of us were extremely intimidating, and we respected both of them too much to argue with this. We were getting punished, yes, and it was one of the worst punishments we had gotten at Hogwarts, but we were also getting our own room. Oh, the possibilities.

Mum spoke up next, breaking my hope for possible experiments. "Neither of you will be getting any of your potions allowance for the rest of the year. You are lucky that Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore are being so lenient." I grimaced but tried to hide it by nodding and keeping my eyes lowered. They were being lenient, I agreed that their punishments were fair. However, losing our potions allowance would hurt. Though mum and dad couldn't do much, we each got a small allowance for our hobbies. If you managed it well, it could add up. George and I were going to be businessmen, so we had started saving our money to spend it well starting last year. It was how we were able to experiment.

Ron usually blasted through his on sweets and food, but we had taught Ginny how to save. She had been even better than the two of us, and only occasionally bought quidditch supplies, but she bought high quality gear when she spent her money. Charlie had spent his money on art supplies, who knew what Bill and Percy had spent theirs on. Bill probably bought books or something.

Oops, mum had started talking again. "—understand? Now, give me a hug before I go back." We got up and sandwiched her between us in a bear hug. No matter how much we got in trouble, Molly Weasley had taught us how to love our family with everything we had. I kissed her cheek and turned to sit back down.

"The two of you are free to return to your common room now, your door should have appeared. Instead of going up the staircase, you will go down. Your belongings have not been moved, part of your punishment will be to move all of your belongings without magic. Now go." I hadn't gotten to sit down before McGonagall dismissed us, so I hovered at a half-squat before standing up and fleeing through the door with George behind me.

* * *

A week after the potions fiasco, George and I were walking back to the common room from one of our detentions, which had been rather tedious. "I'm telling you Fred, we need to come up with some new ways to knock people off their brooms!" This was something he and I had been debating since we got back from Egypt. George was convinced that we needed to have a new 'signature' move in quidditch. I sort of agreed with him, since we were the best pair of beaters Hogwarts had ever seen. However, I thought that we needed to work on perfecting the existing techniques.

"I still stand by the fact that we need to work on our two-handed hitting. I can get more power out of it, and you can get your aim a little better. That said, I do agree that we need to make a new move, but we should let it come naturally."

George narrowed his eyes at me, "What do you mean I can get my aim a little better? My aim is perfect, thank you very much! I do agree with your other point though, obviously you need more work to be as strong as me, we can't all be blessed." He knew he could work on his aim, but he would never admit it. Just like I would never admit that I needed to work on the power of my swings to anyone other than him.

"Now, now, Georgie. We can't all both be the more attractive twin, you just spend more time punching the pillows in distress about being less attractive than me, so obviously you would be stronger." With this, we reached the portrait of the fat lady, so I told her the password. As soon as the door closed, I resumed speaking, turning sideways to look at George as we walked. "I still stand by the fact that flibbertigibbet is a dumb password mate."

George nodded at me, then his eyes got a little bigger and lost the mirth he had from our old game. He held his finger to his lips in the universal sign for quiet and pointed behind me. I spoke, not wanting to fall for this yet again, but I did so at a lower volume in case he was being serious. "What, do you think I'm going to fall for this again?" He rolled his eyes and pointed again, more emphatically this time.

And when I turned around, there was my not-so-little-anymore Hermione. George knew that I liked her, had known since we had met her those 3 years ago. Since she had woken up from being petrified though, I knew that he thought of her as another little sister that he had to protect and take care of. She was at our usual spot, sitting in the middle of the couch with books all around her on the couch and the low table between our couch and the cozy chairs across from it. The fire was still going, but it was lower than usual. We had come back close to curfew, and everyone else had gone back to their rooms, so we were the only ones in the common room.

We stepped closer, leaning over the back of the couch to look at all the stuff surrounding her. Hermione herself had fallen asleep, slumped over to the side in a seated position. A quill laid next to her hand, ink still on the tip and seeping into the red fabric of the couch. Parchment littered the table, about half of it covered in her tiny, neat scrawl. The books were for so many subjects that I didn't know somebody could fit them all into a schedule. Some were open on the table, one was covered with parchment that had her writing for about half the page.

"Blimey Fred, she's taking classes that happen at the same time? How is that possible?" I didn't know, so I shook my head. I had noticed that she had been studying later than she had last year, but she likes to study so I hadn't thought too much of it. Now that I was though, I began to wonder how many times had we sat down together in the evenings over the last three weeks and she told us to "just go to bed already, I'll go up in 10 minutes?"

I couldn't see her face from my angle, so I walked around the couch. The parchment that was sitting to the left of all her books had a list on it, it looked like a list of assignments. I picked it up and quietly read it to George. My girl, she had made little checkboxes next to each item. Only 3 items had not been crossed off. I turned to face Hermione, she looked oddly peaceful laying there in what had to be an uncomfortable position, all scrunched to the side. She had a small smear of ink on her right cheek from where she must have touched her face with her right hand, which was covered in ink splotches. Her breathing was that slow, deep breathing that only sleepers can do.

I turned my head up to look at my twin. "I don't want to wake her up, but she would want me to so that she could finish her work." I knew that I had slightly altered judgement when it came to Hermione, so I thought that George could help me out.

"You said she has to finish divination, arithmancy, and charms? We can do it for her if you really want to, just this once." George spoke slowly, as if he was coming up with the idea as he spoke. He looked surprised when he finished, as if he didn't think that he would think of doing somebody else's homework. "That way she can keep sleeping? But we have to get her up to her bed."

"Let's just focus on the work for now, if you're willing to help me Georgie. I can do the charms and divination if you do the arithmancy?" He was better at the subject than I was, and I knew that she would have the best information. It seemed like it was her charms homework that had been half-completed, so I would probably finish around the same time as George, even with two assignments. "To start, how about we get her laid on the couch better? She's going to hurt her neck if she sleeps like that." He helped me move the books while I transfigured my sweater into a pillow for her. We shifted her into a more laid-out position and took the blanket that covered the back of the couch to cover her. George and I then picked up quills from the cup on the table and settled into the cozy chairs for a long night of doing her homework.

Somebody was shaking me. Why were they shaking me? Why are my eyes closed? I was doing Hermione's homework, wasn't I? I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly to adjust my eyes to the morning brightness. Morning? Godric's ghost, it was morning. How late was it?

Ron seemed to know that I had no idea what time it was, so once he noticed my eyes open and focused on him, he stopped shaking me and started talking rapidly. It took my brain far longer than it should have to process what he said. "It's time to go, you won't have enough time to get ready and get breakfast. I'll have Lee grab you two breakfast and I'll grab Hermione's. Wake up the other one and go get ready."

Ron never could tell us apart unless we were trying to bug him, George and I tend to lean to opposite sides and he picked up on that. Either that or he didn't care to address us by our names, but who cares. Even Mum can't tell us apart most of the time. Only Hermione could. Even so, he could be a good brother when we weren't all picking on each other. He was extremely steady, unless it involved spiders.

I sat up from what seemed to be a position similar to what Hermione had been in last night before we corrected it, scrunched up in a ball with my head on the left arm of the chair. George was to my left, splayed out and snoring with his head back, arm akimbo and legs spread out. His hair was musse, like he ran his hands through it too many times before shaking his head against the back of the chair.

Hermione was laid out on the couch across from us, head still resting on my Transfigured sweater. Her hair was spread out in a halo around her, smushed curls going flat in some places and sticking straight up in others. Ron had knelt in front of her and was shaking her gently. Far nicer than how he shook me.

I shook my head one last time to clear it before leaning over and pushing George's shoulder closest to me. He let out a snort before grunting "Ron did it mum, not me." Ron looked over and shook his head before trying again to wake up Hermione. I shoved again, harder this time. His head slumped over to his left side before he jumped up, still seated but suddenly alert. He blinked a lot before looking at his lap, which still held the arithmancy text and parchment neatly.

By contrast, my work done for Hermione was spread out on the table, one of her books face down on the floor in front of me. Hopefully I had managed to finish it before I fell asleep. I reached down to pick it up so that she wouldn't find her book on the floor as I filled George in about it being too late for breakfast quietly. Ron still hadn't managed to wake up Hermione. A second later, Ron made my efforts to be quiet useless as he shook her shoulder a little more forcefully, gave up, and yelled "Oi, your late for Transfiguration, McGonagall said today was a quiz first thing!"

Apparently those were the magic words, she bolted upright so quickly that Ron had to scramble backwards to avoid getting his head smashed by hers. He fell onto his butt on the floor, and George and I burst out laughing.

"Wha?" Her sleepy voice was adorable. She couldn't even finish a word. Wait what? Adorable? Who said anything about adorable?

George took pity on all of us. "Granger, you fell asleep doing your homework. Fred and I finished your last 3 assignments for you, we must have fallen asleep too. Ron just tried to wake you up and fell on his bum. You can't get brekkie, but you can go get ready and make it in time for class. Now shoo, you need to wake up."

We all got up and headed to do our respective tasks. Up the stairs George and I went, trudging slowly as we got used to being awake. "Thanks Gred, I really appreciate you helping me help her."

"Just admit, you've got it bad mate. Admit it, and we'll be even." This was something that I was beginning to think he was right about, but I would never admit it out loud.

"Nope," I popped, "nothing to admit to." George, who was a step above me, stopped abruptly and turned to face me, smirking with both red eyebrows raised slightly. He shook his head slowly before turning back up the stairs.

"Whatever you say Fred, whatever you say. Which classes should we go to today?" With the subject change, we reached our room and agreed that we needed to go to Transfiguration to get back on McGonagall's good side.

* * *

 **Hey everybody! Sorry for the late update, I've been trying to upload this chapter all weekend, but FF wasn't letting me. Anyways, hope the fact that it's longer makes up for my tardiness. Special thanks to all of you who have reviewed!**


	6. Chapter 5: Apologies

Nobody had talked to Hermione all week. The rest of the Gryffindor's were all upset about her turning in Harry's Firebolt. When I had first found out, I had been upset too, but I hadn't thought she deserved to be ignored like this. By the end of the second day, my anger and frustration had all dissipated. She had been trying to protect her best friend, who had gotten a crazy fast broom from an unknown sender while he was being hunted by Sirius Black. She had to turn it in to the teachers, they had to make sure it was safe. I still hadn't apologized to her for the way I had treated her, I didn't know how to admit that I was an ass.

I think if George bugged me about it like he had when school had first started back up, I would admit that I liked her. But how was I showing it? By ignoring her. I gave her apologetic, sad looks every time I saw her, but she was avoiding company just as much as we were all avoiding her.

I knew George wasn't mad anymore either, but he was keeping his silence on behalf of the team. They wouldn't ease up on Hermione until Harry got his broom back, but I didn't think that was fair at all. Ron wouldn't talk to her either, he was way too stubborn and hot headed, and Harry was the one who was being pressured the most to avoid her by the team.

I sat up from where I was laying on the bed. Like usual, I had my head facing the foot of the bed and my leg was still dangling off. George was more alert than I was, he was sitting up bouncing a ball of light by waving his wand up and down. It was one of the things we had done when we were very little, but we learned how to control our accidental magic once we were old enough. He was the one in charge of the potion today, and he stopped bouncing and started to get up to check on it.

Since the last fiasco, we had been far more careful with our experimenting. We used less volatile ingredients, both so that we wouldn't cause any more explosions, but also because we had been pushed down to the last of our allowance money left.

I watched my twin as he got up to stir the potion. It was supposed to make somebody's tongue heavier, we were going to call them Ton-Tongue Toffees. Once we got them to work of course. What if I had to go without talking to George? That would be awful.

That thought made up my mind. I was going to apologize, and I was going to do it today. Luckily, it was a Saturday, so she wouldn't be in class. I pulled out a piece of paper and a quill, and wrote out my apology, hoping she would read it.

Hermione—I want to apologize. Will you meet me in the corridor outside of the common room?

I'll understand if you don't want to, but I really want to want to see you.

Pretty please? Fred

I used the same charm they do at the ministry to make the notes fly to their intended recipient and sent it on its way. I pulled on my robe as I stood up and made my way over to the cauldron George was standing over. I peered over the lip and took note of how it was coming along. It was the wrong color, but it smelled sweet, which was what had been missing in the last batch.

Our new room was barely big enough to have the cauldron in it, we needed to keep it at least 3 feet from the beds to make sure that they wouldn't catch on fire. We learned that during our second year, when one of our other roommates had complained about it taking up the space in front of the desk. After we had set mine and Lee's bed curtains on fire, they never complained about us taking the desk space again. I think he did all of his studying in the library after that, but who knew.

"Looking good Gred!"

"I know, I just woke up like this!" George put on a sassy voice and added an imaginary hair flip to emphasize his ridiculous statement.

In answer, all I could muster was a "the potion George, the potion" in a drawling monotone to emphasize the lack of amusement I found at his act. "I'm going to head out for a bit, don't know when I'll be back." He cocked his head at me, but he must have found the answer he was looking for in my expression. I wonder what I look like right now? Focus Fred, focus. The potion started bubbling, right on schedule, and he quickly turned back to it. We had found that if we stirred it immediately, it worked like it was supposed to, but if we didn't it would turn our hands too heavy, which took some interesting conversations with Madam Pomfrey. It was the flavor we were trying to get correct.

He just waved his hand at me, telling me to get out of his hair I guess. George can get really focused when he wants to be, he's better at it than I am. I pulled my shoes back on and headed down into the common room. Harry and Ron were there, though they were sitting somewhere in the back instead of in our usual spot right next to the fire. I headed over to them, I needed to get the Map from Harry.

I put on the poshest accent I could think of, imitating Malfoy's pretentious drawl and tipped my imaginary hat toward them. "Good morning gents!" The grins I got in turn were subtle, but there. Making people smile makes a day better. I continued the posh accent and turned toward my basically-youngest brother. "Harry, mate, could I borrow you for a moment? Ron, I shall return him to your thrilling presence shortly." Harry nodded at Ron before he stood up and walked with me back toward the dormitory stairs.

I stopped the accent, which was oddly tiring. Hmm. Maybe we should start practicing odd accents. Or, we could make a candy that gives people obscure accents! Accented Apple Drops anyone? Delectable Dialect Dewdrops? Dialectable Dewdrops? Yes, Dialectable Dewdrops. I have to tell George! Whoops, Harry was waiting for me.

"Hey Harry, could I please borrow the Map? I just need it for today, you'll have it back by tonight." Harry just blinked at me, his green eyes peering through his (once again) broken glasses.

He started nodding before I could finish my second sentence. "Of course you can, lemme just grab it really quick." Hermione would have corrected his grammar, but of course I wouldn't, no matter how much I missed her. I watched Harry's legs disappear around the first bend in the staircase, his robes were far too short. I leaned against the entry to the staircase, tapping my foot as I waited.

If Hermione wouldn't come to me, which I would understand, I had to be able to find her. Of course, I wasn't sure that I had the patience to wait for a long time if she decided to make me wait, and I didn't want to miss her if she came. That was where the Marauder's Map came in, it could tell me where she was.

I would give her a little time to wrap up whatever she was doing, but if she was going to keep hiding then I was going to find her. Harry's footsteps came thudding back down the stairs, Map in hand. "Here you go, return it whenever. I don't think I'll need it soon."

"Thanks Harry, but we did give it to you. I just need to find someone. I'll have it back today." I don't think the kid had ever been given a present until my family had basically adopted him back when Ron befriended him. He needed his own stuff, and I really wouldn't have asked for it if I hadn't needed it.

Map in hand, I headed out of the common room. I brought back the fake hat to tip towards the fat lady, who giggled and waved me on. Hermione wasn't waiting for me, which didn't worry me too much. I had just sent her the note, after all. Once I was sure that I was alone in the hall, I pulled my wand out of my pocket and tapped the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The Marauders had been geniuses, whoever they had been. Although, I thought that the would have been smart enough to give Wormtail a cooler name.

I scanned the areas that I thought she would be. She wasn't in her room, or by the tree she sat against as she read. The courtyard was also out, and the library seemed empty, until I checked the back corner and saw the footprints that read 'Hermione Granger' tucked neatly into the back alcove that George and I found last year. I watched for a few minutes, but the little ink footprints never moved. My note should have reached her by now, she must be really mad at me to be ignoring it. Which would be fair, but I really did want to apologize.

I really didn't want to walk into the library during daylight, when anyone could see me, but it seemed like I had no choice. Getting there was a little bit of a blur, but when I got to the library, nobody was around. I pulled one of the huge doors open just enough to poke my head in. The coast was clear. I carefully picked my way through the shelves and tables to find the alcove.

It was dark, nobody lit the lanterns this far back unless they had to find a book back here. It was why George and I used it when we snuck in to study. We had shown it to Hermione after we helped her finish her homework earlier this year so that she could have a quiet place to study. I lit my wand with a wave and scanned the table for Hermione's curly hair. I didn't see her, so I made the light brighter. I checked the Map, it still said she was here.

I walked around the table and then I saw her, curled up on the floor with books spread around her. I hadn't been particularly quiet once I got past the main part of the library, but she didn't flinch, not even when I kicked the chair on my way over to her. I sucked back as much of my yelp as I could, but the chair still clattered into the table and the chair next to it before loudly settling itself back onto the floor. She was dead asleep, her face resting on one of her closed books, her robe slipped off her shoulders as if she had been using it like a blanket, and her beautiful curls were wrapped all around her. Even in her sleep though, she looked sad.

She looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake her up. That couldn't have been comfortable though, and I needed to talk to her. I reached out and ran my hand down her arm and back up before shaking her shoulder. "Hermione? Hermione wake up." I kept my voice quiet, and she started to wake up.

Big brown eyes blinked up at me, and her voice sounded so small when she croaked "Fred?" at me. I nodded, and her eyes started to water. "I'm so sorry Fred, I didn't mean to do it" she sobbed. "I just want him to be safe Fred! I didn't want everyone to be mad at me, I just want to protect Harry from Sirius Black! He's the closest thing I've ever had to a brother!" I could barely make out what she was saying through her sobs as she sat up, but I knew I had to make her feel better.

"Shh, Hermione, you did the right thing." I reached out and pulled her closer to me, she all but climbed into my lap and sobbed into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and tried to keep talking to her. "Mi, Mi, you did okay. You did the right thing, we were all wrong. I was wrong and I'm so sorry Mione. I'm so sorry Mi."

Hermione was supposed to be so strong, she wasn't supposed to break down. I guess being everybody's rock meant that she had to break down sometime though. It didn't matter how strong you were, everybody is allowed to be hurt. Especially a fourteen-year-old girl whose friends had all abandoned her. I let her just cry, holding her.

Eventually, she stopped crying. I just kept holding her. She felt nice against me, but the wet spot on my shoulder just reminded me of how awful of a friend I had been lately. She picked her head up off my shoulder slowly and kept her head down. "Mi, please look at me."

She did, her face all red and her eyes all puffy. I started talking again, probably rolling right over what she was going to say. "Mi, I'm so sorry for treating you this way. I didn't mean to, I just didn't know how to apologize. Please forgive me, I just want to be your friend. You're always there for all of us and I don't think any of us have always been there for you but that's going to change right now. Don't think I haven't noticed you always being tired, there's something that has been going on for a while now and I don't think Harry and Ron have even noticed. Please forgive me and let me help you." I wasn't good at apologies, even though I had years of practice. I have a tendency to ramble on and make a fool of myself, but at least I tried?

Hermione blinked her big brown eyes at me, probably trying to decipher what I had just said. Sleepy, sad brains aren't the best at understanding rapid-fire rambling apologies. After a moment, she just gave me a watery smile. "Mi?" Her voice was all wavery from crying, but at least she was talking to me?

"Because you're mine. My best friend other than George, the person I want to never shut out again. Please say that I'm your friend again? I've missed you." I was probably about to cry if she didn't say agree to be my friend again.

Hermione just nodded and laid her head back on my shoulder. I shifted a little, so that my back was to the wall. Very quietly, she began to talk. I had to strain my ears, even as close as I was, but I tried to listen to every word that came out of her mouth. "You can't tell anyone I've told you this, but I've been using a Time Turner to get to all of my classes this year. Professor McGonagall gave it to me, but I had to get special permission. That's how I've been able to go to more than one class at the same time. I thought I could handle it, but I've been falling behind the longer the year goes on. Then Harry gets that broom and I just want to make sure that he's okay." She took in a shuddery breath, and I nodded my head.

"You know Sirius Black is after Harry, I know you do." Again, I nodded, my chin gently bouncing off the curls on the top of her head. "I just wanted to protect him, and then everybody goes and stops talking to me. All I get are dirty looks from everybody in Gryffindor, and you don't even talk to me. You and George always make sure to talk to me, but you didn't. And I didn't get to sleep, and I can't get my work done this week, and I just miss everybody."

"I'm so sorry Mi, I didn't mean it. I just didn't know how to apologize. I can help you with your work, and I'll sit next to you tomorrow in the Great Hall okay? For now, how about you just go back to sleep. I promise I'll be here when you wake up."

She gave my ribs a squeeze, and asked me to promise again. We laid back onto the floor, and she used my arm as a pillow. She fell right to sleep, her breathing steady, if a little hiccupy. I just held her close until I fell asleep, sure I would wake up and she wouldn't talk to me again.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey everybody, sorry I didn't post last week, a family member was in the hospital. They're okay now, but it was a long week. Therefore, this chapter has not been edited. I apologize (just like Fred!) for any mistakes, please let me know if you find some. I might edit it soon, but I didn't want to make you all wait longer.**

 **Thank you again to all my followers, favoriters (?) and reviewers, you make me want to keep writing!**


	7. Chapter 6: Isolation

Chapter 6

I was braiding Hermione's hair in a comfortable silence. It was earlier than anyone except Mi would have gotten up, especially on a Saturday, but I told her that she should come wake me up if she needed me, and she had. I had dragged George with me to sit with her at breakfast the day after our breakdowns, and just like that we were all friends again. That didn't mean that I didn't feel the need to make it up to her though, we…I had put her through a lot.

Last night she had another fight with Harry and Ron, who were still ignoring her. She had tried to get them to realize why she had turned in his broom, but they were little prats about it. I don't know how they missed the bags under her eyes screaming that she just needed to sleep, or why they didn't try to take care of her. But Mi had come knocking lightly on my door the last three days, asking me to just sit with her and braid her hair early in the morning.

I finished the plait and gave it a little tug, letting her know it was finished. In return, she raised her arms and slid the hair band off her wrist to pass it to me. Normally she would clamber across the couch to sit next to me until breakfast, some book or another braced against her bent knees. She would absently play with the end of her braid while she leaned back against the arm of the couch, even when the common room began to fill up, before she would tuck her bookmark into place and tell me it was time for breakfast.

This morning, however, she stayed on my normal side of the couch and leaned her head on my right knee. I felt, more than heard her sigh deeply. "Fred?" Her voice was quiet, fitting in the early morning.

"Yes?" I would listen to anything, take any lecture just to keep her cuddled up to me like this. Even if I was perched on the arm of the couch with nothing to lean back against.

"Sorry for waking you up again." She normally waited until breakfast to apologize for that, even though I always told her it was unnecessary.

"Mi, I told you to wake me up. You don't need to apologize or thank me. I'm here when you need, even if it is before six in the morning."

She was still turned away from me, but she leaned further into me. Luckily she was leaning on the side that was braced against the couch. "Still. I've been waking you up way earlier than you normally would." I gave her braid a tug, and she was silent for a moment. "Did you know that Harry is taking Patronus lessons with Professor Lupin? He has such a bad reaction to the Dementors."

I hadn't known that, and I made a noise that articulated my surprise quite well for such an early hour. "Patronus? That's advanced stuff."

Hermione straightened up proudly, no longer leaning against my leg. "Harry is one of the best in the year for Defense. If anyone could do it, it would be him. Especially since he has a real reason to learn it, he really _only_ applies himself to practical things. And quidditch." Even though they were fighting, she was standing up for him against even the hint that he couldn't do something. I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

"I know Mi, I'm just surprised that he would ask for extra lessons, no matter how applicable they are. He's not exactly fond of extra work, you have to bug him for him to do his normal work." That made me wonder exactly how much the boys had fallen behind in the weeks since term started back up. Probably a lot. Better to not mention that to Hermione though.

She turned to look at me over her shoulder and jumped a little, as if I surprised her. "You have to be uncomfortable, here." Her warmth left my legs as she shifted closer to her normal spot on the side of the couch furthest from the fire, but today she didn't move all the way to the end of it. I slid down from the arm as gracefully as possible with my legs half-asleep, which is to say not at all.

That brought the sly smile that Mi has special for when people make fools of themselves and a giggle. I tried to get that smile onto her face as often as possible, it was perfect. Stupid Charlie, stupid Charlie! I gathered my dignity, and my limbs, and slowly settled myself against the arm that was much better as a pillow than a perch. Hermione leaned against the back of the couch with her upper body turned so that she could watch me. My legs were crossed, my knees just barely brushing against her leg. She shifted in a way that made her leg press in more to my knees and had her sink into the couch a little further.

The silence from earlier settled around us comfortably, so I felt comfortable closing my eyes. The fire made the room a comfortable temperature, and my brain decided to shut down. Sleep would be nice, real cuddles would be nice. We could go back to sleep on the couch together, like we did that day in the library. Mmm.

Those thoughts are dangerous. She's my friend, she's only 14. Bloody hell. I opened my eyes to see her eyes focused on my face. I could get used to that… I shook my head a little to try to get rid of my wanderings, but it didn't work. She pulled her hair over towards her face and used it to cover her mouth, her eyes drifting toward her lap. I didn't know how she wasn't sleeping more, she was up so early every day.

"Mi?" my voice came out far squeakier than it should have, it was supposed to be manly. Her head lifted up and her eyes met mine. The light from the fire gave her hair a fiery glow that seemed to fit her perfectly. Her eyes were sparkling, they seemed ready to burst with tears that I knew she wouldn't release. Not here, where anybody could walk by and see. Asking her why she couldn't sleep had seemed like a good idea only moments ago, but when I opened my mouth to speak, nothing would come out. It was obvious why she couldn't sleep, what she saw as her only friends had abandoned her. I had been a part of that.

Instead of trying to ask how she was, or tell her that it would be alright, both seemingly thoughtful but obviously the wrong thing to say, I decided to just uncross my legs and hold my arms out. After a moment's hesitation where I thought she would say no, she bit her lip and shifted. It was clumsy as all hell, and at one point she muttered an _ouch_ under her breath, but she settled into my arms. Hermione's head laid on my right shoulder, her face tucked into my neck.

I wrapped my arms around her to reach for the pillow next to where she had been sitting to shove it under my back so that we could lay down more. Her breathing on my neck started out shuddery and uneven. I did the only thing I could think of and wrapped my arms around her. She was so warm and soft. I turned my face into her hair and muttered to her nonsensically. "It's okay, you're here, I won't let them hurt you." On and on, I just said whatever came to mind that seemed vaguely comforting.

After a few minutes and three wet drops making it onto my neck, her breathing evened out, becoming long and slow. I just kept whispering into her hair and rubbing her back. She was finally getting some sleep, I would stay here as long as I needed to.

My right leg had fallen asleep long ago, my right arm was on well on its way to joining its friend. My neck ached from being contorted for so long, and my lower back was protesting the position we were laying in. I wouldn't trade this for anything though, she needed sleep and I wanted to hold her. The sun was just starting to peek in through the windows, joining the fire in illuminating Mione.

It was a Sunday, so we were probably going to be the only ones awake for some time. Well, Mi wasn't awake. Mi.

George shook me awake with a finger to his lips to signal me to be quiet. I wasn't in our room for some reason, and I was really warm. The morning came back to me quickly.

I wasn't braced against the arm of the couch any longer, and though my right arm was completely dead, my leg had feeling again. The gold throw pillow I had used to cushion my back early was now being properly used as my pillow, and Hermione's head rested on my shoulder, mouth open and snoring lightly. She had shrunk back into the couch and my body covered hers from the outside world completely.

George leaned over and whispered into my ear, "didn't think she'd like everyone to see that first thing in the morning. Meet you in the room when you're ready." I tucked my head down to let him know my appreciation. Hermione didn't like to be talked about and this would be fuel for gossip now that the masses were back at Hogwarts. I turned my attention back to the sleeping girl. I wanted to stay there, dead arm and all, but George was right.

"Mi, Mi wake up. Come on Hermione, wakey wakey." She shifted her head a little, allowing blood to return to my arm. "Mi Mi Mi." I just started talking quietly, getting a little louder now and then to wake her up. Her arm tightened around me before she opened her eyes. "There we go Mi, time to wake up. How early did you wake me up before?"

"Wass five. Seep now." She couldn't form words yet, and she tucked her head back into my neck. I shrugged my shoulder slightly to jostle her.

"Nope nope sleeping beauty, time to wake up. You should go back to bed before your roommates wake up." I hated to say the words, but they needed said.

She reached up to rub her eyes before sitting up slowly. "Maybe I will. Thanks Fred." She leaned over and kissed my cheek before sliding her legs to the floor and swaying groggily to the girls' staircase. After she disappeared from sight, I headed back to mine and George's room.

I was greeted with an entirely too cheerful twin who shoved me over to my bed and laughed. "I won the bet!" I had no idea what he was talking about and was far too tired to think anymore. I thought naps were supposed to be nice and refreshing?

"Bet?" The words felt thick in my mouth. George nodded, but didn't explain.

"Go back to bed you lug. I'll grab brekkie, we have Quidditch this afternoon. Wood won't be happy if you're too tired to stay on your broom."

* * *

The next time I woke up, I did actually feel better. Georgie was gone, but there was a plate of breakfast with a warming charm over it next to my bed. I waved my wand to check the time, still had an hour and a half until practice. I happily munched down my food and pulled over the notebook we were using to come up with ideas.

Our ideas had names now, and some later pages had notes on our experiments, like the actual recipes for the potions and what not to do, like use moly without stirring. The list I was looking at had just the names of ideas and a brief description of what they would do. Fainting Fancies, Ton-Tongue Toffees, and Canary Creams were some of our more fleshed out potion-based ideas, and of course our trick wands were already in various stages of success. One of the most exciting ideas that George and I had come up with were Extendable Ears, which would allow us to eavesdrop at will. Unfortunately, some of the charms that we needed for those were still beyond our reach. We had "borrowed" some of the library's old advanced charms books for study, but we still hadn't found the right combination to make them work.

Our cauldron was empty this morning, but that wasn't unusual for right now. Our allowance fund having dropped to almost nothing over the last term and only getting it back a few weeks ago meant that we had precious few ingredients to experiment with, so we were saving them for when we were both in the room. We had temporarily abandoned the Fainting Fancies, but we wouldn't leave them on hold for too long. George and I were going to up the intensity of the wards on our room when we got back from summer so that if the potion exploded spectacularly again, everything would be contained.

I jotted down a new idea for a product, Fever…Fudge? Yes, Fever Fudge. It would be part of our Skiving Snackbox line, meant to get people out of class so they can do better things, like send hair cleaning potions hovering around Snape's head, or red hair dye in the Slytherin's dorm. Hmmm. We should do a hair-based prank soon. I added it to my notebook.

I sketched out the details of what would need to happen for Operation Shampoo Snape for the next hour or so, scribbling out what wouldn't work as I went. George would look at it later but I had a feeling that that this would be a good one. Eventually, I stopped writing ideas and pulled out a piece of parchment.

I had meant to just sketch for a few minutes, but the next thing I knew, George was flying into the room, scrambling for his Quidditch robes. I looked up from my drawing of Hermione's face, quickly hiding it from George's view. He would never stop making fun of me for that. I lunged for my nightstand and threw the parchment and the notebook in the drawer, hoping that he would think my scrambling was for the same reason as his: we were almost late for Quidditch! I threw the robes on and grabbed the protective stuff and my bat before snatching my broom from its spot in the corner.

George finished just before I did, cursing under his breath the whole time. He was breathing heavily, and I checked him over before he scrambled through the door. "You're good Georgie boy," I declared, sounding completely out of breath. He checked the time again and groaned.

"We're not going to make it Fred. You heard Wood last time!" Unfortunately, I had. We were late to practice about a month ago because we had been hiding dungbombs in Filch's office. Completely juvenile, but it works so well. Because it was so much lower than our usual caliber of prank, nobody ever suspected us for doing it. Filch had come back before he should have, so we had to hide, which led to us being late to practice. "We might be the best beaters the school has ever seen, but Wood would beat us with our bats if we're late again." That had been part of the tirade we received that day.

I had the spark of an absolutely brilliant thought, so I shared it. "What if instead of running to the pitch, we flew?" George froze, eyes bugging, before his jaw slowly dropped and he turned to me.

"Pure genius!"

We arrived at the pitch one minute before our presence had been demanded, strapping our protective gear onto our arms as Wood glared at us. Practice went great, George and I mostly hit a bludger back and forth at each other until the whole team joined for a scrimmage. The chasers were against Oliver, Harry flying around looking for the snitch, while we tried to smash each and every one of them. Nicely though, because they were our teammates.

George and I were trying a new strategy where we tried to keep the other team between us for the whole time, and it seemed to work well enough at practice, though it needed to be tried against another team in order for us to judge how effective it would really be. George was on the other side of Alicia, trying to get the bludger in the right position so he could smack it to me through the lovely chaser, when I got an idea.

I grinned at him and turned my gaze back to Oliver. I heard the smash of bludger against bat, and cocked my arm back so that I could receive the bludger at the right angle. Alicia yelped, but I hadn't heard an impact, so I swung. My timing was perfect, the bat connected with a solid _smack_ that I felt all the way through my arm. Wood had told us to try the strategy of keeping the players we were targeting between the two of us, but he hadn't said anything about targeting the keeper.

I sent the bludger hurtling toward Oliver as he hovered in front of the left hoop, staring down Angelina since she had the quaffle. I flinched as I realized that he hadn't noticed the bludger coming his way, he was so intent upon the charging chaser. While we were not supposed to be pulling our hits, we were _not_ supposed to be injuring our teammates, so I yelled to warn Oliver.

 _Smack_. I was just too late to save him from a hit. However, my warning had allowed him to brace for it, and so he turned so his off side took the hit. The bludger had hit his left shoulder hard enough to knock him down several feet in the air. Luckily, our captain knew what he was doing. I flew over to check on him, that hit had been hard enough it could have knocked him off his broom.

"GonnakillFredgonnakillGeorge stupid beaters aimingatme." Uh oh. He only muttered like that when he was actually thinking about killing us.

"uh, alright there Wood?" I squeaked out as soon as I got close enough. He turned to me, face white and bloodless.

"Which one?" I knew what he was asking, but I knew that I had to keep both of us out of trouble. George flew in beside us, face pale, but unlike Wood, he wasn't in pain. But we would be later.

"Don't know what you're talking about Oliver, lets get you to the hospital wing." The rest of the team was already down on the ground, Harry with the snitch in hand and Alicia with the quaffle tucked under her arm. George flew off to battle the bludger back down while I flew with Wood down to the ground at a slow pace. His left arm was definitely hanging at an odd angle, he needed Pomfrey.

We should have just been late. It would have been less painful in the long run.

* * *

 **A/N: I am so so grateful for those of you who have read, followed, favorited, and especially those who have left a review (or multiple!) I apologize for my temporary hiatus, I can only blame being a graduating senior in college, working 3 different jobs, and having a mental health breakdown. I make no promises for the next month, but after that I promise to get back to a regular posting schedule.**

Continuing to get alerts about new follows and favorites makes my day, and reviews even more so! I'm better now, so hopefully I can get back into writing and posting every week.


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